


Changed Beginnings

by fringeperson



Category: InuYasha - A Feudal Fairy Tale
Genre: Don't copy to another site, F/M, Old Fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-16
Updated: 2020-11-16
Packaged: 2021-03-10 06:14:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,254
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27588671
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fringeperson/pseuds/fringeperson
Summary: Life in the household of the West is altered by a moment of acceptance, if not forgiveness.~Originally posted in '13
Relationships: Inu no Taishou/Izayoi, Inu no Taishou/Sesshoumaru's Mother
Comments: 1
Kudos: 26





	Changed Beginnings

“Father, do you insist on going?” Sesshoumaru asked as he watched blood drip from his father's left hand.

“Do you intend to stop me, Sesshoumaru?” Touga, the current Inu no Taisho, asked his eldest, and yet, only son, not turning to look at his nearly-grown pup.

Sesshoumaru sighed. “Yes,” he decided. “You're in no condition to go to her. I'm not best pleased that you took a human mistress, and I _know_ that Mother is even less thrilled about the matter, but you have sired a pup on her. That makes the human woman family, as the mother of the pup. I will fetch them for you, though I may need your swords to do so.”

Touga turned in surprise. “I admit, I had not expected such an answer from you,” he said, a hint of a smile on his features.

Sesshoumaru shrugged. “I admit,” he echoed. “I had thought of giving a different one. Honour and duty have certain dictates however, and though the seer says my path is that of supreme conquest, much thought has reminded me that... there are many different sorts of conquest.”

Touga chuckled, but quickly bit it off as he winced in pain.

“Rest, recover,” the son instructed his father. “I will fetch your human hime to Mother's palace, the pup also, if it be born already.”

Touga pulled the two swords that he had at his hip from his sash. “You may need both of these,” he said as he held the weapons out to his son. “The Tessaiga, to reach her, and the Tenseiga, if they have killed her for bearing the pup.” Then he gave Sesshoumaru a stern look. “I expect them to be returned to me,” he added.

Sesshoumaru scoffed. “You'll have to survive the night to take them back,” he answered with a smirk as he accepted the two blades from his father and tucked them into his own sash.

Then he took off into the night, with speed far greater than his injured sire would have been able to achieve.

Touga watched him go, a proud smile on his face as he sank down into the snow-covered sand. So, his wife and son had not  _forgiven_ his taking the human woman, but they had none the less  _accepted_ it, and would honour her as one who bore a child to his line. That was... unexpected, but he was grateful of it.

~oOo~

Sesshoumaru, though no coward by any measure, was well-trained in many arts and disinclined to barge into the mansion through the front gate. He was not soft in the heart for humans, but though his parents had named him 'killing perfection', he saw no reason to bloody his claws on the guards and priests who foolishly stood, willing to give their lives in order to slay the great demon they expected to come.

No, Sesshoumaru slipped silently in over a rear wall and followed the scent of his father to the human woman that would soon bear him a sibling.

“Who are you?” exclaimed an old human woman when he appeared on the steps outside of the building that held the woman who carried the scent of his father. “The birthing chamber is forbidden to men!”

“I am not a _man_ ,” Sesshoumaru answered with a sneer he could not help. “I am a _demon_. I am Sesshoumaru of the West, and the woman who I can smell beyond those walls will bear my father's child.”

The woman flinched back in fear, and the aroma of that fear rose from her potently.

“Have you come to kill her?” the woman asked.

Sesshoumaru shook his head. “No,” he answered simply. “I have come to  _collect_ her, on behalf of my father.”

“She is in labour, and cannot be moved,” the woman declared, her fear abating slightly with the knowledge that he had not come to kill her lady.

“Then I shall wait here, beyond the walls of the chamber, for the sake of all and decorum, and bring her _and_ the child when the birthing is complete,” Sesshoumaru announced, and stepped up onto the walkway, where he sat, ready to guard his father's mistress against any that would do her – or his sibling – harm.

The woman scurried back into the birthing chamber, to assist with her lady's labour.

Sesshoumaru waited patiently, barely wincing at the shrill cries of the woman as she gave birth, and with his nose carefully turned away from the smell of that which was happening beyond his sight. It was unavoidably potent a smell, but with the way the wind was blowing, he was able to put it out of his mind and focus on those scents which came from the rest of the mansion beyond.

“Woman, there is a man coming who's every step clinks softly with the sound of armour, and who smells of wood and metal,” Sesshoumaru informed the old woman when she emerged from the birthing chamber, a bowl in her hands. “What is that for?” he asked.

“The healer needs water for Lady Izayoi,” the woman answered.

Sesshoumaru took the bowl, scooped up some snow, and expelled a deep, warm breath across it, so that it melted. “There. Take that in to the healer,” Sesshoumaru instructed. “Then see if you can turn the man away. I do not like the smell of him, and will abide no men not of blood relation near to the woman chosen by my father.”

The old woman bowed to him, and hurried back inside with the bowl. She returned quickly, bowed to Sesshoumaru again, and continued on her way as fast as her old, feeble frame would allow.

“I implore you not to enter, Lord Takemaru,” Sesshoumaru heard the woman say. “The Lady is in labour!”

“She will birth a child fathered by a demon,” the man answered. Lord Takemaru, Sesshoumaru supposed. A samurai, most likely, if he was a lord who clinked and clanked softly when he walked, and smelled of metal and wood. “There is no need for decorum.”

“The birthing room is forbidden to men!” the old woman protested, just as she had to Sesshoumaru.

The clinking steps paused.

“Lord Takemaru?!” the woman exclaimed.

The scent of blood reached Sesshoumaru's nose, and his lip curled in disgust. To reject the rules a Lord was supposed to uphold was, to Sesshoumaru, the greatest of transgressions a ruler could perpetrate. A Lord is supposed to be an example to his people, after all, regardless of if he  _cared_ for them or not. A servant should not be killed for performing their duty. That was a punishment for failure, and for the most grievous failure only.

“My dearest...” Sesshoumaru heard Izayoi call weakly from within the birthing chamber.

“The night of a lunar eclipse. Excellent, it's a perfect time to slay a demon,” Takemaru's voice said as he paused just beyond the corner of the building, just out of sight of Sesshoumaru.

He stood.

“My Lady,” the midwife said from within the birthing chamber. “A son.”

So, Sesshoumaru had a brother then. He was no longer 'the son' of his father, but now 'the eldest son' of his father.

The midwife left the birthing chamber through another exit. Sesshoumaru did not see her leave, but he scented, through the rest of the potent aromas wafting out of the room, that there was now only one female in the room beyond.

“Demon,” greeted the human with a scowl when he rounded the corner, and there was blood on the blade of his spear.

“Yes,” Sesshoumaru answered. “Come in my father's place to see to the safety of Izayoi and my new baby brother,” he added with a barest hint of a smirk.

The human, Takemaru, grit his teeth and his scowl further deepened. “And where is the demon that captured my Lady's heart?” he asked darkly.

“My father is recovering from a mortal wound at this moment,” Sesshoumaru answered pleasantly, and swept some of his pale silver hair over his shoulder. “You will not so recover,” he added, and raised an elegant, deadly hand.

The samurai charged Sesshoumaru, infuriated.

Sesshoumaru elegantly flicked his wrist, and flash of light cut across the space between them. It also cut through the human's neck.

The body of the beheaded samurai fell forward, but the spear – still held tightly in his hands – did not reach Sesshoumaru's armour.

The threat dealt with, Sesshoumaru moved into the birthing chamber, however much his nose objected to the action.

“Who is it?” Izayoi asked weakly.

“I am Sesshoumaru, the elder brother to the child that you have born,” Sesshoumaru answered. “I am come to take you to my father.”

“He... did not come himself?” Izayoi asked, her voice weak from the recent pain, but still conveying her surprise.

Sesshoumaru scoffed. “He would have,” he assured her. “Despite being gravely injured. I prevented him with the promise I would fetch you in his stead. Be grateful woman,” Sesshoumaru said. “My father would have assaulted the front gate and killed many on his way to you. I came quietly and have killed only a samurai who's blade was already red with the blood of the midwife's elderly attendant.”

“I... thank you,” Izayoi answered.

“I am to take you to the palace of my mother. She is displeased with father's behaviour, but does not begrudge _you_ for this. You and my brother will be safe there,” Sesshoumaru said. “Are you able to leave now?”

“I... I'm afraid I do not have the strength...” Izayoi answered.

“Then I shall carry you,” Sesshoumaru informed her bluntly. Within his own mind, he added that once he had done this, he would burn the kimono he wore, have his armour soaked in oils and re-treated, and spend a full day in the private hot-spring that was attached to his chambers in his mother's palace.

Not necessarily because of the human smell, but rather because of the smell of  _birth_ .

“Are there any other protests?” Sesshoumaru demanded softly.

“No,” Izayoi replied weakly.

Sesshoumaru pushed the curtain aside and looked upon the weakened hime and the child she had borne. The child already resembled his father. Sesshoumaru scoffed silently to himself, and collected the woman into his arms, the babe cradled against her body in  _her_ arms, and then exited into the night as snow fell about them.

The infant promptly wailed in protest against the cold, rushing air.

“First thing you're going to learn from your big brother, gaki,” Sesshoumaru said, not looking down at either the human woman or the babe. “Will be on how to keep that big mouth of yours shut.”

Izayoi laughed weakly from his arms, but held the infant closer to her and did her best to hush him.

~oOo~

Sesshoumaru touched lightly down on the steps of his mother's castle.

“Will you be able to stand?” he asked the woman in his arms.

“Yes,” she answered. “I am rested now.”

Sesshoumaru nodded and set her down.

“Your father is in the Kennel,” said a female voice by way of greeting.

The pair looked up and were greeted with the sight of an elegant woman dressed in many layers of kimono, the outermost of which had an exquisite white-fur trim that matched her fine white hair. She also had markings upon her face that were much like, though by no means identical to, Sesshoumaru's.

“He only returned moments ago, so he'll be licking his wounds for a while,” she continued blithely, as though she didn't much care either way about the matter.

“Mother,” Sesshoumaru answered, and bowed his head slightly in greeting.

The woman smile. “I'm sure you wish to bathe,” she offered. “You needn't stay.”

Sesshoumaru nodded, and dismissed himself.

“So, you are the woman who my mate could not help but steal the heart of,” he heard his mother say behind him.

“I...” Izayoi began, then hesitated, and confusion radiated from her.

“If my mate cannot control himself, then I will not fault you,” Sesshoumaru heard his mother say dismissively. “Come,” she instructed. “I am certain that you wish to bathe also.”

“Thank you,” Izayoi said softly. “May... may I have the honour of your name?”

“I am Kimi.”

~oOo~

Touga named his second son InuYasha as soon as he was recovered enough to leave the Kennel and greet his human bride and half-human son. Once he had done that, he went to Sesshoumaru so that he could reclaim his swords.

“Do you dislike her scent?” Touga asked when he found his son at last.

For himself, Sesshoumaru had already burned the kimono he had been wearing, set his armour in oils, and had no intention of leaving the hot-springs for a while yet, though already his skin was wrinkled from being in for so long.

“They weren't needed,” Sesshoumaru informed his father blandly, and gestured carelessly to where he had set the two blades rather than answering the question.

Touga sighed, but reclaimed his fangs all the same, and left his eldest to continue to bathe in peace.

Years passed, as they always do, and InuYasha grew – and according to Sesshoumaru, he grew more  _annoying_ as well. Izayoi grew old, and soon her hair was as white as the hair of the demons around her, though her face was lined in ways that the faces of those same demons were not.

Izayoi passed, as all living things some day must, and when she had been buried, Touga took his two sons aside and gave each of them one of his swords. To Sesshoumaru, he gave Tenseiga. To InuYasha, Tessaiga.

“Uh, not that I'm complaining,” InuYasha began as he stared at the sword he'd just been handed, “but why did I get the cool sword, rather than Sesshoumaru?”

“Because,” Touga said firmly. “With you getting older -” InuYasha had finally hit puberty. “- your demonic heritage could potentially cause an imbalance. Tessaiga will keep you safe and prevent that from happening. Besides, Sesshoumaru could stand to learn the lessons of Tenseiga,” he added with a slightly pointed look at his son.

Sesshoumaru, for all that he had  _said_ that he'd recognised there were many different sorts of conquest, had still trained with a focus on the idea of ruling Nippon and destroying all those who would stand in his way.

“And what of So'unga?” Sesshoumaru asked softly, his golden eyes calmly fixed on the terrible sword still at his father's back.

Touga sighed, tiredly, and glared at the bulbous pummel of the damned sword. “There is a gateway into the afterlife in the Land of Fire,” he said. “I will go there, and take the damned thing with me.”

“Father...” Sesshoumaru breathed out, eyes wide with the implication. “You...”

“Would not return from such a venture,” Touga finished plainly. “Yes. I will go into the afterlife, take So'unga into the netherworld with me, and never leave it again.” The great demon smirked at his sons a little sadly. “It is very much a one-way trip.”

InuYasha looked like he'd just been punched in the gut.

“You would follow Izayoi, then?” Sesshoumaru queried, his voice solemn.

Touga nodded. “If I don't take myself off, then your mother will quite happily send me, I'm sure,” he informed his eldest, smiling slightly.

Sesshoumaru scoffed. Indeed, his mother had not been particularly fond of his father since he dallied with Izayoi, but she wasn't as cold as she showed herself. Or maybe, because he was her pup, he was just a special case.

“And on the subject of sending,” Kimi spoke up from the door behind Touga, her voice sharp – much like it was any time she had caught _either_ pup doing something they shouldn't have been. “I think that it is time and passed that your sons leave my palace, Touga, and make their own way in the world.”

InuYasha, already hurting from the recent loss of his mother, and the announcement of the impending loss of his father, looked at the elegant demoness in horror. “You're... kicking us out?” he asked.

Kimi nodded. “All pups must leave the den some day. Sesshoumaru really should have left a century ago,” she said, and raised a pointed, delicate eyebrow at her son.

“Teasing the gaki was too fun to pass up,” Sesshoumaru answered his mother with a smirk. “And I was hardly here _constantly_ ,” he pointed out.

Kimi bowed her head slightly in acknowledgement. “Still, you are both of an age when you should be out in the world and learning how to be your own selves. For that matter, you should both try and find a mate,” she added, and shifted her cool gaze to  _her_ mate. “One you can be  _loyal_ to.”

Touga had the grace to wince.

Kimi gave a satisfied nod. “You each have a week to pack your things. You may continue to have rooms here, a sanctuary if you should ever need, but do  _try_ and make homes for yourselves  _elsewhere_ ,” she said, then turned and gracefully swept out of the room.

“Hey!” InuYasha yelped once Kimi was gone. “I'm too old to be called gaki!”

Sesshoumaru smirked again. “Did you only  _just_ notice, little brother?” he asked teasingly.

InuYasha growled and drew the recently bestowed Tessaiga from its sheath, only to stop abruptly. “Uh, did I break it?” he asked, confused. “It's...”

Touga laughed. “It is as it is because it was not drawn to  _protect another_ ,” he explained to his son happily. “As it is, the Tessaiga will protect you from  _yourself_ , but if you wish to wield it as I did, then you will need to find someone you wish to protect.”

“Like you wanted to protect my mother,” InuYasha said softly.

Touga nodded.

Sesshoumaru stood. “Father,” he said. “I wish you happiness in the afterlife.”

With that, he left his little brother and his father behind. As his mother had said, it was well past time for him to go out into the world and learn who  _he_ was, who he  _could_ be, and what was the path that lay before him. Certainly the seer had told him 'supreme conquest', but it would be an interesting journey to discover what it would be that he would conquer so supremely. Sesshoumaru smiled in anticipation. He'd like to conquer Nippon, but the heart of a powerful female would be a satisfying trophy as well.

~oOo~

The panther demon tribe had returned to the West. They had been repulsed once already by his father, and in disgrace had been sent running. Sesshoumaru had been only a young pup then, unable to go to battle with his father. Now they had returned, bent on revenge, and he intended to repulse them just as his father had before him.

“My Lord!” called out Jaken as he scurried up to him. Sesshoumaru wasn't entirely sure how he'd picked up the toad, but it was a devoted thing.

“Did you find him?” Sesshoumaru asked shortly. It was a sort of _family_ matter, so he had sent the imp out to find InuYasha.

InuYasha had been told the story of the great battle between their father and the leader of the panther demon tribe for bedtime once or twice, and had expressed a desire to have seen those cats running for himself. It was logical to send for him, to give InuYasha a chance to assist in sending the off – either back to their own lands, or to the afterlife.

If he had found a way to use the true power of Tessaiga, then so much easier the battle ahead.

“My Lord, your brother has been sealed by a priestess!” Jaken answered, both frantic and apologetic. He had, after all, failed his Lord in his given task.

Sesshoumaru barely withheld a sigh of frustration. “He would,” he muttered. “Fine. I'll deal with the panther demon tribe and then hunt down the brat. If he's sealed somewhere, that shouldn't be too hard.”

The panthers did have numbers on him though. Even with the riff-raff that had shown up, wanting to fight in order to repay the debt owed to his father. More than that, the invading nuisances had  _four_ fighters that were approaching his level. He was standing alone as the best fighter defending the Western Lands.

Both sides lost men, it has to be said, but Sesshoumaru did manage to injure their four leaders enough to see the cats withdraw. They'd be back though, and likely a great deal sooner than they had been when his father sent them running. Well, he knew their techniques now. He would grow stronger while he guarded the West, and wait for the  _next_ time they dared to set their stinking feline hides on his lands again.

And next time, he would be sure that his brat baby brother would be in a position to at least distract the enemy while he cut them down.

For now... Sesshoumaru drew the Tenseiga and looked out over those who had stood at his side, and now lay strewn across the battlefield. The panther demons had collected their dead when they withdrew.

“They protected their home,” Sesshoumaru whispered harshly to the blade, and slashed it across the land before him.

Those who had been dead slowly woke, drawn back from the grasp of the netherworld into the land of the living once more. There was one though, apart from himself, that had survived  _without_ the aid of the life-restoring blade.

“Jaken,” Sesshoumaru called to the imp.

“He-here, Milord,” Jaken answered with a cough as he picked up his jaw. Never before had he seen his master wield such power. It was an awesome and terrible sight to behold.

“Let's go. Baby Brother has some explaining to do,” Sesshoumaru said firmly, and turned from the battlefield where those who had followed him to their deaths were slowly rising.

“Y-yes, Milord,” Jaken answered tremulously, and hurried after him.

~oOo~

Sesshoumaru took his time reaching the village where his baby brother was sealed. He had, of course, sent Jaken off to acquire details before he reached the place. Sesshoumaru wanted to know who had performed the sealing, what had become of  _them_ , what sort of seal bound the brat, and of course  _where_ he was bound.

It took Sesshoumaru the better part of fifty years, to reach the village where his brother had been bound. Of course, there had been many delays, and he hadn't exactly hurried. He travelled simply, on foot, and at such a pace that was easy for his short-legged follower to keep up with.

Any demon foolish enough to challenge Sesshoumaru, for any reason, was dispatched. Any human that dared to disrespect him was taught a lesson, though most didn't dare. Only the foolish didn't quail before him. Only the ignorantly proud failed to accommodate when he presented a perfectly reasonable request.

For example, there had been a slight issue with a rather pathetic little collection of samurai who had refused him the use of a boat to cross the river. Certainly he could have easily leapt across, but Jaken would  _not_ have been able to do so, and Sesshoumaru didn't particularly care to  _carry_ his little retainer, even for so short a period of time.

He had cleaved their leader – who had scoffed at his request – vertically in two with a flick of his wrist and a flash of golden light. Then he had repeated his request, calmly, politely, and with his claws glinting, ready to strike down the next human that would deny him.

Sesshoumaru was almost upon the place where, according to both his nose and Jaken's reports, his baby brother was stuck to a tree by an arrow of a priestess. But evening was beginning to encroach upon them, and the clearing in which he currently stood was pleasant. The grass was fresh, the ground was somewhat raised, and the only human feature in the area was a dry, disused and unvisited well.

“Jaken, make camp,” Sesshoumaru instructed, and settled himself against the old well. “We will stay here until morning. Possibly late morning.”

“As you wish, Lord Sesshoumaru,” Jaken answered deferentially, and bowed deeply before he scurried off to find dry wood to build a fire, and stones to surround that fire so it would not escape and lay waste to the clearing or surrounding woods.

~oOo~

Sesshoumaru's morning was disturbed by the eruption of a centipede from the well he had spent the night resting against. The thing had already lost an arm, somehow, but shortly after ruining the tranquillity of the morning Sesshoumaru saw to it that she lost her head, and the rest of her body dissolved under the power of the potent, poisonous acid of his claws.

Sesshoumaru remained after the wretch was dispatched, and waited for the tranquillity to settle over the clearing once more. Slowly but surely, it did. Butterflies that glowed in the sunlight flitted back to the flowers, and the birds and their songs returned. Then... a new scent wafted gently up from within the well. Mixed in with shock, fear, panic, confusion, and disbelief was the (surprisingly tantalising) scent of a female – and the sound of her at the bottom of the well trying to catch her breath after her fright.

“I guess I must have... fallen down the well...” a pretty voice said.

Sesshoumaru smiled to himself as he peered over and down into the well. Ah, there was the other arm of the centipede. More importantly though, there was the source of the scent: there was the female.

“You cannot have fallen,” Sesshoumaru said to her, catching her attention. “I have been resting in this clearing since last evening. I would have noticed you approaching the well.”

The female blinked up at him.

“Uh... and I'm fairly sure I would have noticed a guy in the well-house,” the female answered, her confusion increasing. “Or anywhere on the shrine, actually,” she added.

Sesshoumaru raised an eyebrow at that. “Shrine? You are not dressed as a priestess,” he said, then shook his head. “This conversation would be better conducted with you _out_ of there,” he decided, and extended his youki to create a cloud beneath the girl. One that would raise her up to him. He would have scraped his armour on the sides of the well if he had attempted to physically go down to fetch her.

“Okay, I'm _definitely_ not in Tokyo any more,” the female said, her eyes wide, when she was elevated to stand level with the lip of the well.

Sesshoumaru offered a hand to help her down, which she accepted, though her eyes were still wide and confused as she looked all around at the glade and surrounding woods.

“Am I at least still in Japan?” she asked hopefully. “I mean, you're wearing a kimono, but you don't exactly look Japanese...”

Sesshoumaru chuckled in amusement. “You are in Nippon,” he answered her. “And I am not human.”

The female blinked, and her eyes went even wider while her eyebrows jumped up towards her hairline. “Not human?” she asked weakly.

Sesshoumaru casually brushed some of his hair back behind one ear, showing off to the female that it was, in fact, pointed. The action also drew attention to his claws and the markings on his wrist.

“Right... you're... not going to _lick_ me like that creepy woman with the six arms and centipede body sticking out of her waist did, are you?” the girl asked, then shook her head. “Sorry, it's just been a long, weird day already, and it isn't even lunch time.”

Sesshoumaru scoffed lightly, though the idea was surprisingly tempting – to learn if she tasted as well as she smelled. “And what of you?” he asked. “You are not dressed in a manner I have ever seen before, and your features are not purely those of a Japanese human.”

“My grandmother was a gaijin,” the female answered promptly, then sighed. “And the clothes... it's my school uniform.”

“I am familiar with the idea of a uniform, but have never heard of 'school',” Sesshoumaru said.

“It's a place where children get sent to learn things, like reading, writing, arithmetic, science...” the female answered, then jolted. “Oh, I'm sorry. Mama taught me manners, but I haven't introduced myself yet. I'm Kagome Higurashi, pleased to meet you,” she said, and bowed to him, her hands clasped in front of her.

“This ons is Sesshoumaru,” Sesshoumaru answered with a nod of his head. “Lord of the West. You have two names?”

“Yes, Sesshoumaru-sama,” Kagome answered, not rising from her bow. “Higurashi is the name of my family, and Kagome is the name that my father gave me.”

“A name... with no meaning,” he noted softly.

Kagome winced, and straightened from her bow. “Yeah,” she agreed. “There's a children's rhyme... 'Kagome, kagome, kago no naka no tori wa, itsu itsu deyaru, yoake no ban ni, tsuru to kame ga subetta, ushiro no shoumen daare'... Papa liked it, and I got called Kagome. It is written with the kanji for 'cage' and 'eye'.”

Sesshoumaru nodded in acceptance of the explanation. “Jaken,” he called.

“Here I am, Milord,” the toad answered, and scurried up to him, the staff of two heads held high over his own.

“Go to the nearby township and purchase attire for this female,” he instructed with a gesture to Kagome. “It would not sit, to let her be accosted by ignorant humans because of her dress.”

“Aye, Lord Sesshoumaru,” the imp said, and bowed low before scurrying off once more. “I shall return from Edo with a much more suitable kimono for the female!” he added loudly before he had left their sight.

“Edo?” Kagome echoed weakly, and sank to the ground.

“You know it?” Sesshoumaru asked.

“From my _history_ lessons,” Kagome answered, and looked up at him with a pale face. “Edo was re-named Tokyo about a hundred and thirty years ago... or at least...”

“Ah,” Sesshoumaru said. “It seems, Kagome-san, that you have somehow travelled backwards in time through this well,” he explained, and looked down into the well. “That is very interesting.”

~oOo~

Jaken returned with the clothes, and Sesshoumaru took on his true form to provide the young onna with some secure privacy in which to change. She hid in the gap between his front and back legs, those same limbs shielding her from view, while Sesshoumaru politely looked _elsewhere_.

“I'm done,” Kagome called out.

Sesshoumaru shrank back down to his usual guise and surveyed her.

The indigo kimono was plain and undecorated, but still it suited her. The simplicity of the garment emphasising the loveliness of the female wearing it. The obi was bleached white, and tied in a butterfly bow at her back. Again, it was simple, but lovely.

Sesshoumaru silently wondered to himself how Kagome would look in the many grand layers that were favoured by his mother Kimi, and had also been worn InuYasha's mother Izayoi. Somehow, he was sure she would be stunning.

“So... what now?” Kagome asked.

“Now,” Sesshoumaru said, and turned towards the forest once more. “Now, I must fetch my errant baby brother, and I think it would be best if you accompanied me, for your own safety, as well as my curiosity. I should like to know more of you, and I cannot know you if something kills you in my absence.”

Kagome nodded in slightly nervous understanding, and fell into step behind Sesshoumaru, beside Jaken, as they left the clearing and entered the woods.


End file.
